Possessive adjectives show who or what something belongs to. They come before a noun and describe the noun by linking it to an owner. They answer the question “Whose?” and help avoid repeating a person’s name or a noun. In English, they agree with the owner, not with the thing owned.

English has a small, fixed set of possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Each one matches a subject pronoun and points to the owner. Once you choose the correct possessive adjective, the noun stays the same regardless of who owns it.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
my	belonging to me	my bag
your	belonging to you	your phone
his	belonging to a male person	his jacket
her	belonging to a female person	her keys
its	belonging to an animal or thing	its tail
our	belonging to us	our house
their	belonging to them	their car

Possessive adjectives normally go directly before the noun they modify. They can also come before an adjective that describes the noun, staying at the start of the noun phrase. They do not stand alone without a noun because they function as adjectives, not pronouns.

Rule	Example
Place it before the noun	her book
Place it before any adjective in the noun phrase	their new apartment
Use it with a noun, not by itself	This is my seat

Choose the possessive adjective based on the owner, not the thing owned. The possessed noun does not change form when the owner changes. English does not mark gender or number on the possessed noun for possession in this structure.

Rule	Example
Match the owner, not the noun	Sarah loves her job
Same noun, different owners	my friend, your friend, their friend
The possessed noun stays the same	his coat, her coat

Use his for a male person and her for a female person. Use its for animals or things when you mean possession, especially in formal or neutral writing. Its is different from it’s, which means it is or it has and is not possessive.

Rule	Example
Use his for a male owner	He forgot his password
Use her for a female owner	She changed her schedule
Use its for an animal or thing	The dog hurt its paw
Its is possessive, it’s is a contraction	Its color is bright

Your is used for both singular and plural owners, unlike some languages that change the form. Context shows whether you mean one person or several people. In polite situations, your can also refer to someone you are addressing formally.

Rule	Example
Your works for one person or many people	Is this your seat or your seats
Context clarifies meaning	I like your idea, everyone

Their can refer to a plural group, but it is also widely used as a singular, gender-neutral possessive adjective. Singular they avoids choosing between his and her when the person is unknown or when someone prefers they. This usage is common in modern English and accepted in most contexts.

Rule	Example
Use their for plural owners	The students brought their laptops
Use their for a singular person when gender is unknown or neutral	Someone left their umbrella

Possessive adjectives typically replace articles like a, an, and the. You usually say my car, not the my car. In some fixed expressions, you may see the used with a possessive for emphasis or specification, but this is not the normal pattern for everyday noun phrases.

Rule	Example
Do not use a, an, the right before a possessive adjective	my apartment
A possessive adjective can stand in place of the article	her answer

Possessive adjectives can modify many kinds of nouns, including people, objects, places, and abstract ideas. They can introduce longer noun phrases with quantities, adjectives, and prepositional phrases. The possessive adjective stays at the very beginning of the noun phrase.

Rule	Example
Possessive adjective starts the noun phrase	our three best options
It can introduce abstract nouns too	his opinion
It can precede longer phrases	their plan for next year

Possessive adjectives come before a noun: my book, her coat. Possessive pronouns replace the noun: mine, hers, ours, theirs. Choosing between them depends on whether you say the noun or leave it understood from context.

Word/Phrase	Definition	Example
my	possessive adjective before a noun	my laptop
mine	possessive pronoun replacing the noun	The laptop is mine
her	possessive adjective before a noun	her notebook
hers	possessive pronoun replacing the noun	This notebook is hers
their	possessive adjective before a noun	their seats
theirs	possessive pronoun replacing the noun	The seats are theirs